Solid Dodgers seek opportunity at Meetings

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- After taking a swing and miss on two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani and passing on MVP Giancarlo Stanton, the Dodgers could be busy at the Winter Meetings beginning Monday. Or not. Either way, Dodgers.com will be there to cover it.
MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2017 Winter Meetings, with Twitter updates @kengurnick. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at 6 a.m. PT.

After falling one win short of their first World Series title in 29 years, the Dodgers come to the annual convention not needing anything desperately. They tried for Ohtani, who chose the Angels, and were apparently willing to pick up far less of Stanton's $295 million contract than the Yankees did ($265 million).
"We're fortunate that a lot of the team is going to be coming back," general manager Farhan Zaidi said last month. "We don't feel we have any glaring needs. We'll continue to be opportunistic to improve the roster."
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To that end during the Winter Meetings, the Dodgers could pursue a trade for a right-handed-hitting outfielder consolation prize, such as Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen or Stanton's former Miami teammate, Marcell Ozuna, at a fraction of Stanton's financial cost.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will be looking to re-sign or replace free agents Yu Darvish in the starting rotation, Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson in the bullpen and Chase Utley as a platoon second baseman.
In three years of the Andrew Friedman regime, the Dodgers have passed on nine-figure marquee free agents while clinging tightly to their most coveted prospects, specifically Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and Julio Urías. The untouchable prospect everyone will want this winter is right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler.

The Dodgers have filled holes in recent offseasons with affordable free agents and trades -- often complicated ones -- for controllable young players like catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitcher Alex Wood, or veterans with short-term commitments like Utley and Howie Kendrick.
The Dodgers would like to trade Adrián González or Scott Kazmir, but other clubs find outfielders Alex Verdugo, Andrew Toles or Joc Pederson more intriguing and less expensive.
Manager Dave Roberts will hold his Winter Meetings media session on Tuesday at 12 p.m. PT. The Rule 5 Draft will take place Thursday morning. The Dodgers' roster is full at 40.